Twelfth Night Secrets

This 1797 holiday crowd-pleaser calls for an afternoon curled up next to the fireplace. No heat? No worries. Feather (A Wedding Wager) provides plenty of sparks between English spies Lady Harriet Devere and Julius Forsythe, earl of Marbury. Harriet is assigned to determine whether Julius is a dastardly double agent who slit the throat of her brother, Nicholas. She’s given the perfect opportunity at her grandfather’s annual Christmas gala, where Julius is in attendance. Harriet is suspicious from the moment she meets the earl. He assures her that he and Nick were best friends, but she can’t recall her brother ever mentioning Julian’s name, and later she catches him in a small but undeniable lie. On the other hand, he’s thoroughly charmed her grandfather and her 10-year-old twin siblings—and she finds him devilishly attractive. Readers will cheer as Harriet bravely wages dual battles against a pair of French spies and her own desires. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House. (Nov.)